Harry Houdini Biography & Quotes: Biography - the most famous magician of all time.

Biography: Harry Houdini's actual name.

Biography: Harry Houdini's actual name was Ehrich Weiss.

Biography: Harry Houdini's actual birthplace (not Appleton )and date.

Biography: Magician Harry Houdini born March 24, 1874 in Budapest, Hungary (not Appleton WI ) of Jewish parents. Died in Detroit -1926. After Harry Houdini's death his wife held seances as a test, to no avail.
Biography: Harry Houdini was often quoted to be born in Appleton, Wisconsin, Harry Houdini came to the United States to Appleton with family at the age of four. To this day many connected with the small town of Appleton still claim in their biography that Harry Houdini was born in Appleton, to attract tourists. Copies of Harry Houdini's birth records and early family records at the Harry Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pa, show Harry Houdini was born in Budapest (not Appleton ), on March 24, 1874. Historians are finally agreed on this fact. In later years, in a magazine interview, a Harry Houdini quote said of Appleton, "the greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin."

Biography - Harry Houdini's early years.

Biography: Harry Houdini's father was Mayer Samuel Weiss. Harry Houdini's father was a Jewish Rabbi. Harry Houdini's father for a short time was Jewish Rabbi for the German Zoin Jewish Congregation in Appleton. Harry Houdini's mother's name was Cecilia Steiner Weiss. Harry Houdini's original family pictures are on display at the Harry Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountain region of Pennsylvania PA.

Biography: Being Jewish Harry Houdini's parents spoke only Yiddish, Hungarian, and German. The family of Harry Houdini was poor so the children began to work at an early age. From the age of eight young Ehrich Weiss (Erik Weisz) sold newspapers and worked as a shoe shine boy. When coming to the United States there were often many spellings of names as families adjusted to English. At the age of 12, young Ehrich left home - Appleton to make his way in the world & to help support his family. A great sign of independance. Many biography links wrongly claim Harry Houdini was overly obsessed with his mother. However Harry Houdini did love her very much.

Biography: Harry Houdini moves to New York City at the age of 13.

Biography: After leaving Appleton young Ehrich traveled for about a year, sending money home to his family when he could. Harry Houdini joined up with his father and family who also left Appleton in New York City. Harry Houdini's father would die about five years later on October 5, 1892, The move from Appleton to New York would change Magician Harry Houdini's life and introduce Harry Houdini to the world of big time magic. The family moved from Appleton to New York in the the hope of finding a better life there. In New York, Harry Houdini worked as a messenger and as a cutter in a garment center sweat shop, Richter & Sons, a tie factory to help support his family. Harry Houdini 's father found some little work in the Jewish community there, but also worked with Houdini for a time at the factory. Magician Harry Houdini was very athletic and won awards in swimming and track. Magician Harry Houdini has been quoted as saying his athletic and swimming talents were of great help for Harry Houdini's success as an escape artist.

Harry Houdini Quotes.

"The greatest escape I ever made was when I left Appleton, Wisconsin."

Harry Houdini Quotes.

"What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes."

Harry Houdini Quotes.

Magic is the sole science not accepted by scientists, because they can't understand it.

Harry Houdini Quotes.

"The easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place someone is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death."

Harry Houdini Quotes.

How the early priests came into possession of these secrets does not appear, and if there were ever any records of this kind the Church would hardly allow them to become public.

Harry Houdini Quotes.

"My chief task has been to conquer fear. The public sees only the thrill of the accomplished trick; they have no conception of the tortuous preliminary self-training that was necessary to conquer fearÉno one except myself can appreciate how I have to work at this job every single day, never letting up for a moment. I always have on my mind the thought that next year I must do something greater, something more wonderful."

Harry Houdini Quotes.

I have spent a goodly part of my life in study and research. During the last thirty years I have read every single piece of literature on the subject of Spiritualism that I could. I have accumulated one of the largest libraries in the world on psychic phenomena, Spiritualism, magic, witchcraft, demonology, evil spirits, etc. some of the material going back as far as 1489, and I doubt if any one in the world has so complete a library on modern Spiritualism, but nothing I have ever read concerning the so-called Spiritualistic phenomena has impressed me as being genuine. It is true that some of the things I read seemed mystifying but I question if they would be were they to be reproduced under different circumstances, under test conditions, and before expert mystifiers and open minded committees. Mine has not been an investigation of a few days or weeks or months but one that has extended over thirty years and in that thirty years I have not found one incident that savoured of the genuine. If there had been any real unalloyed demonstration to work on, one that did not reek of fraud, one that could not be reproduced by earthly powers, then there would be something for a foundation, but up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains or those which were too actively and intensely willing to believe."